The Cidade da Cultura de Galicia will open to the public at the end of 2010 and includes a museum, library, archive facility, arts center and a performing arts center.

Designed by the American architect Peter Eisenman to embrace the best cultural expressions of Galicia, Spain, Europe, Latin America and the World, this pluralistic ‘city’, is considered to contribute towards meeting the challenges of the information and knowledge society.

These buildings would be connected to each other through five main pedestrian pathways that lead towards the central plaza. These are equipped with state-of-the-art technology, intended to create a space of excellence for reflection, debate and actions focused on Galicia’s future and internationalization.

Its spaces will be host to services and activities devoted to the preservation of heritage and memory, the study, research, experimentation, production and dissemination in the fields of literature and thinking, music, drama, dance, film, the visual arts, audiovisual creation and communication.

The Library of Galicia is due to open by the end of 2010, which has been designated as Galician Book and Reading Year, as well as Xacobeo (the Holy Year of Saint James). The library will cater to both the general public and professionals, providing access to relevant information for cultural and educational uses.

The Galician Archives, situated in a building adjacent to the Library of Galicia, will also open by the end of 2010 and would be home to all public or private documents preserved for value. It is considered to become a safeguard for Galicia’s heritage. Educators, researchers, creators and artists can access the documents for administrative, research or cultural purposes. Citizens will also have access to the documents both, at the facility, as well as the Internet.

The Galician Museum has been conceived as a space for exhibitions and international projects. It is currntly under construction and will be open to the public by 2011. Its façade is about 43 meters high, and spreads over 16,000 square meters of surface area, making it one of the most remarkable buildings in the City of Culture of Galicia.

The centre for Performing Arts, Escenario Obradoiro, originally conceived as a Music Theater is situated at the center of the City of Culture of Galicia. These facilities are currently at the initial stages of construction. The center’s main auditorium is equipped with a multi-purpose stage and has a seating capacity for 1,300. The seating space can be complemented with other spaces, where small scale projects may be hosted and adapted.

The International Art Center, which is located on the northern side of Mount Gaiás and next to the Museum of Galicia, is undergoing the preliminary stages of construction. It was initially designed to host a Museum of Communications, as well as new technologies in communications and audiovisual production, but has been converted to a center for modern art and the artistic and cultural relations between Latin America and Europe.

The facility, which would house the Central Services, is slated to be inaugurated along with the Library and Archives of Galicia by the end of 2010. The building spreads over 7,500 square meter and is a five floor structure featuring offices, a staff canteen, two smaller and one larger multi-purpose rooms, capable of hosting a variety of events.

The project also incorporates two towers named as ‘Hejduk towers’ originally designed in 1992 by the late architect John Hejduk. These were built as a part of the Botanical gardens in Belvís, a project that never materialized. After his death, Peter Eisenman suggested erecting them at the City of Culture as a memorial to John Hejduk.

The complex will be surrounded by streets, colonnades, gardens and plazas. The built-up area includes parking space for around one thousand cars, a main road with access from downtown Santiago and the highway AP-9, enabling access from all over Galicia.